In certain applications, fiber optical rotary joints are employed to interconnect optical fibers of two different bundles, while permitting at least one of the bundles to rotate relative to the other. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,142,747 is directed to a fiber optical rotary joint (FORJ) having a housing that defines an internal cavity. The housing is adapted to engage end portions of two bundles of optical fibers with the two bundles disposed on opposite sides of the internal cavity. By appropriately aligning the first and second bundles of optical fibers, respective pairs of the optical fibers of the first and second bundles can communicate across the internal cavity. The first and second bundles of optical fibers generally terminate with an optical collimation array. A collimating lens, such as a ball lens, may be associated with each optical fiber such that the signals emitted by their respective optical fiber are collimated by the ball lens before being launched through the internal cavity. At least one, if not both, of the optical collimation arrays is adapted to rotate about a longitudinal axis relative to the housing. The entire content of U.S. Pat. No. 7,142,747, issued Nov. 28, 2006, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,405 is directed to a multichannel fiber optical rotary joint having an adjustment mechanism which is provided for optimizing the signal strength transmitted through the rotary joint from one set of fiber strands in a bundle to another set of fiber strands in a separate bundle disposed axially from the first bundle.
In certain applications, fiber optic cabling is used to provide high-speed data communications for onboard electronic systems. In such applications, a fiber optic connector may be used to connect the fiber optic cabling to the electronic system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,849 is directed to a fiber optic connector insert having an opto-electronic (O/E) converter that converts electric signals to optical signals and optical signals to electrical signals. Such O/E converters may include a transmitter optical subassembly for converting electric signals to optical signals and a receiver optical subassembly for converting optical signals to electrical signals. The entire content of U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,849, issued Apr. 6, 2010, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,925,256 is directed to a bi-directional optical transmission and reception assembly. The assembly includes an optical transmitter and an optical discriminator having a photo detector and an interference filter. The entire content of U.S. Pat. No. 6,925,256, issued Aug. 2, 2005, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.